I am not going to get my living as a surveyor, or measurer,
or sea captain."
"How are you going to get your living, Herbert?" his young friend asked,
in a quiet tone, as he looked up into his face.
"Why, I am going to learn a trade; or, at least, my father says that I
am."
"And so am I," replied William; "and yet my father wishes me to learn
everything that I can; for he says that it will all be useful some time
or other in my life."
"I'm sure I can't see what use I am ever going to make, as a saddler, of
algebra or surveying."
"Still, if we can't see it, Herbert, perhaps our fathers can, for they
are older and wiser than we are. And we ought to try to learn, simply
because they wish us to, even if we do not see clearly the use in
everything that we are expected to study."
"I can't feel so," Herbert replied, tossing his head, "and I don't
believe that my father sees any more clearly than I do the use of all
this."
"You are wrong to talk so," protested his friend, in a serious tone. "I
would not think as you do for the world. My father knows what is best
for me, and your father knows what is best for you; and if we do not
study and improve our time, we will surely go wrong."
"I am not afraid," responded Herbert, closing the book which he had been
reluctantly studying for half an hour, in the vain effort to fix a
lesson on his unwilling memory.
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